Mikes Thoughts

Morning Writing

One of the things I particularly love is writing about whatever grabs me but it really seems better in the mornings. I often start a thing on the iPhone and find this compelling or ridiculous thing that carries things to my morning in the house with coffee and music. I can stop then. Let the idea find some new expressions. Maybe write in the journal a little on the thing and see where it percolates to. I think mostly it is just the act of doing the writing and for some reason, the mornings seem like the time to just find whatever it is comes around.

house in the mornings

Around our house in the mornings, it is pure Cambodia I guess but with a mix of me. My little blend is music. I use Spotify because it’s cheaper here and it’s officially supported. I tried just using YouTube mixes but I like the playlists and making my own with its streaming service. I pay $3 a month for it here. It gives me every morning of whatever. Like now Joan Baez doing Diamonds and Rust. One of my favorite songs and her voice cuts across moments like stainless steel. The coffee cools and the mood warms. I can barely hear the usual cacophony of conversations that happen all around our neighborhood. Cambodians and talking. My wife will come in after visiting and telling me she talked too much. I don’t think it’s possible but in the mornings she’s just getting started. Even if I did speak Khmer I doubt I would ever want to participate.

I much prefer the mornings as the music and coffee unfolds. There’s the sense of the next two hours or so slowly giving me the morning I want here. The house lets me have some peace and quiet in the room and the I take it.

The main course though is the going and the next piece of writing is always out somewhere. A coffee shop with good wifi this morning. Maybe some pastry or other. A longer stop at a comfy couch or chair. I’ll see you in my next stop in the morning. Some words to find or lose at a coffee shop of my choosing. I go every morning. According to my wife, it’s my job to walk and walk and have coffee wherever I please in the mornings.

Writing outside

I was reading in my rss app there is a new obsidian available. I’ve tried any number of times and it’s just not this thing. To me the mobile app just kind of sucks and the screen is way too busy for writing. iA Writer gives me this big window of where writing happens. Obsidian put the desktop app into a dryer and shrunk it all down. And it’s also preference and use. Writing in iA seems to put writing first. I never need some app to start writing. It just works. I guess I’m never in so much a hurry to record or capture something. There’s nothing to capture for me. An idea comes along and goes into the journal. A blogpost comes along and it just gets started. I never know really what goes into either. You get the pure undiluted bullshit here. Welcome to it.

Coffee shop writing in Spring Coffee means enjoying their wonderful bits and bites. And bytes. I can sit with my iced americano and let the words go where they wish. My wife tried to get me to eat breakfast by being supposedly angry. I’m not a breakfast or lunch eater. I do some bread and fruit mornings. My meal is the one she does at 3pm for me. This just works for me. Why change.

So I’ll just continue writing something. Here or there. Blog or journal it matters little. The main thing is the doing of it. And morning writing is my best time. I like getting home after and watching history YouTube videos that are not AI. I found a few that made it into my RSS app. Yeah that app has become my source for far more than news and blogs and stuff. And I love how it’s changed my use.

And that’s not the end. Only this stopping point.